Might #Turkey support #Daesh? The Russian viewpoint – #Lavrov

Relations between Turkey and Russia are still rather strained. According to an interview made by the Italian monthly magazine “Limes” to the Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, Ankara has been refusing to cooperate in detaining Russian citizens accused to join terrorist groups.

According to Lavrov, Turkey rarely hands over to officials, the ones who have the goal to join terrorist groups active in the Middle East and North Africa. Its negligence in countering terrorism confirms that Turkey collaborates with extremist organisations.

“Russia has emphasised time and time again its concern over the growing terrorist threats in Turkey and the lack of preparedness of Turkish authorities to cooperate in the fight against terrorism”, the Russian minister added.

Russian-Turkish relations started deteriorating after the crash of the Russian jet Su-24 attacked by two Turkish F-16 fighting in the Syrian border.

Following the aircraft’s attack, the Russian President Vladimir Putin imposed several restrictive measures on Turkey as the interruption of a military cooperation between the two States.

Turkey has also been recently accused to finance the terrorist group Daesh and smuggle oil with it. In November, two turkish journalists named Can Dundar and Erdem Gul were arrested due to an investigative report supposing an arms dealing between Turkey and Syria.

Also, Ankara refuses today 4 February to allow Russia to conduct an observation flight over Turkish territory under the Open Skies Treats, according to a high-ranking source in the Russian Foreign Ministry. The observation flight was planned by Russian inspectors for the first week of February.

“Following such events, it is absolutely necessary to define who is against terrorism and who is not. Now it is time to show if all the countries are together in defeating terrorism”, Lavrov said in the Limes’ interview.